1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to coin operated vending machines which dispense one article, such as a newspaper, to each customer in response to deposit of an appropriate value of payment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sale of articles, such as newspapers, by machine has long been accomplished by so called "honor" boxes in which the customer inserts appropriate coins to gain access to a stack of newspapers within an enclosure having a coin actuated lock. The customer is expected to take one article and generally most do. However at some locations the entire stack of newspapers consistently disappears upon payment for only one or a few of the papers. Such lack of payment for product received results in significant loss of revenues to vendors.
Therefore, there has been a long-felt need to provide a newspaper vending machine which will provide access to, or dispense, only one paper to an inserter of appropriate payment.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,263,040; 2,522,033; 3,082,912 and 3,957,175 each show prior art attempts to provide a newspaper vending machine which gives each coin inserter access to only one paper.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,263,040 and 3,957,175 each show the use of pointed objects which partially penetrate at least a portion of the surface of one paper at the bottom of a stack to enable the paper to be forced partially out a slot to give the customer access to it.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,522,033 shows a dispensing member with sharp points which forces a portion of the top paper on a stack out a slot.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,082,912 shows a newspaper or magazine vending machine in which one copy is pushed out a vertically oriented slot in the side of the machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,863 discloses a vending machine for dispensing one article at a time from the bottom of a stack by contacting an edge of the article.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,701 discloses a vending machine for vending newspapers one at a time and provides a good background discussion of the inherently weak and fragile characteristics of newspapers and the consequent difficulties in dispensing them.
Typical prior art attempts to make commercially acceptable coin responsive one-at-a-time newspaper dispensing machines have failed due to complexity of the dispensing mechanisms, defacing surface engagement of the newspaper and/or difficulty in loading newspapers into the machines.